This book is both confusing and interesting, but ultimately and unfortunately, it's not really a complete book, just part of one that has been artificially separated into a trilogy. This makes is very unsatisfying. ( )

Hmmmmmmmmmm. This was something like watching Lost. Its either a 2,5 or a 2.

Review to come. ( )

There are two reasons I picked up this book, and I'll lay them out for you. First off, Tracy Hickman is one of the authors. After feeding my imagination with Dragonlance books, and stealing me away into countless Fantasy adventures, I'm a fan of his. I'd give anything he writes a chance. So, when a new series comes out with his name on it? I'm sold. Second reason? The cover. It has a mysterious and gorgeous way about it that just called to me. I had a bad case of cover love, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Sadly, this wasn't the adventure that I was looking for. I'm honestly not sure what it was. Falling into Ellis' story was like waking up from a long coma. She has no idea where she is, who she is, or what's happened to her. I was initially okay with this. Characters who have to be built from the ground up can be interesting. I love discovering who they are, right along with them. The problem was, that just never happened. I finished the story. I made it to the ending. Yet I still have not one inkling of an idea who Ellis is.

Herein lies the problem with Unwept. It's so completely confusing, that there's nothing to grasp onto as a reader. I couldn't connect with Ellis, because I didn't know who she was. I wasn't able to wonder about her story, because nothing happened. Then the ending, that wasn't really an ending, left so many things unexplained. In the opinion of this reader, if I had purchased this book I would have felt upset at the end. It feels like this entire story is nothing but a big lead up to prompt you to buy the next one. I'm okay with open endings, but if the ending leaves everything as a big pile of knotted up yarn? I'm annoyed.

I wish I could give you more insight into this book, but I really can't. Most of this read just felt so empty that, by the time I reached the ending of Unwept, I had no strong feelings about it at all. Despite the two star rating, I'm still debating on whether I'd pick up the second book to see where things go. We shall see. ( )

Creepy and weird. Very atmospheric. ( )

When Ellis Harkington awakes from a nightmare, she knows little except her name. A nurse accompanies her on a train back to her hometown of Gamin, Maine in hope that familiar settings will restore the memory robbed from her by unknown causes. After a short rest, she begins to meet members of the Nightbirds, a circle of young men and women who claim to be friends. They tell Ellis little about her forgotten past hoping that activities they invite her to join will gently spur her memory.

I wish the husband and wife authors would have described better the members of the Nightbirds as they did Gamin. I found it difficult portraying them in my mind's eye. The action seemed to drag and was ready to rate it one star until the last 60 pages when it finally began to become interesting. This novel is the initial in a trilogy. Generally, when I read a trilogy, the weakest of the set is generally the second serving as a bridge between an introduction that draws the reader in and the climatic conclusive third novel. However, this series appears to be the exception with such a slow start, I doubt I will read the other two even if there was a cliff-hanger at this book's end. ( )